Celebrating 30 Years with Lee Anderson

An incredible milestone has been achieved this year at Geoimage as we congratulate Lee Anderson on her outstanding achievement of 30 years with Geoimage. Lee started back in 1994 when she found an ad in the newspaper for the position of Office Administrator at Geoimage. From the time when exabyte tapes were commonly used and plumbing pipe was a resourceful tool for mailing large file imagery files, to digital streaming in the Cloud, Lee has seen a massive transformation within the satellite services industry. The late 90’s saw the launch of the ground breaking iKONOS satellite capable of capturing 80cm panchromatic imagery.  With applications including both urban and rural mapping of resources, the era of Landsat 7 and the 5m multispectral Rapid Eye defined the noughties. Satellite technology continues to evolve at an ever increasing pace as miniaturisation and ride sharing launches pave the way for the future and Lee has witnessed it all.

“Lee has always been a part of the foundation of Geoimage, you always know Lee is there for you. She is the custodian of Geoimage’s history, keeper of stories of staff and clients and projects alike spanning three decades. Over the course of her journey with us, she has tackled different roles and stayed committed over the good times and the tough times. The job Lee has done has been outstanding, and we certainly appreciate her.” – Scott Morrison, Director of Geoimage

Over the years, Lee has worked on an incredible number of projects, but there have been some projects that Lee remembers more than most. “… the two I remember most were, counting albatrosses on a remote island in disputed territorial waters. And the other one involved a supposedly rich man in America who before he died, buried some treasure somewhere and publicised a bunch of clues. I can’t remember how people found out, but several people contacted us with coordinates to see if we could search satellite imagery for a kind of box or some kind of clue without having to travel there”.

We asked Lee what the secret was to stay motivated these past 30 years, and sticking with Geoimage. “It started with a great group of people and even as people came and went, it remained a great group of people under the guidance of Bob and Sylvia (the founders of Geoimage). Geoimage was acquired in 2015, and the change of management was a challenging time, but it was something I wanted to stick with as I had invested quite a few years. The changes proved worthwhile and rewarding, creating lots of positive forward-thinking changes in the company. It’s always great to see the new younger staff come in with their fresh ideas, and the way they can contribute. Anytime the team has faced a challenge, we’ve always persevered and come through. The motivation to stay for 30 years was to speak with management and talk about how I could progress my professional growth through learning new skills and crafting a new role within the team. This kept me challenged and engaged!”

On behalf of the entire team at Geoimage, congratulations Lee and thank you for your incredible support for Geoimage over the past 30 years.